


Emily's Stories

by AmePaz



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series), Hetalia: Axis Powers, InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, Steven Universe (Cartoon), Undertale (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28367166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmePaz/pseuds/AmePaz
Summary: This is a bundle of stories that I have written over the years for my best friend.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 1





	1. Table of Contents

Here's what is in this collection of stories:

1\. Emily's Surprise Party  
-fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia  
-pairing: Self Insert x Sweden x Austria x Germany x Russia

2\. Christmas Wish Come True  
-fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia  
-pairing: Self Insert x Sweden x Austria x Germany x Russia

3\. My Song for You  
-fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia  
-pairing: Self Insert x Austria

4\. Mistletoe Kisses  
-fandom: Underfell (Undertale AU)  
-pairing: Self Insert x Papyrus

5\. New Relationship for Christmas  
-fandom: InuYasha  
-pairing: Self Insert x Sesshoumaru

6\. Merry Christmas, Spinel  
-fandom: Steven Universe  
-pairing: OC x Spinel

7\. Merry Christmas, Jasper  
-fandom: Steven Universe  
-pairing: OC x Jasper

8\. Merry Christmas, Sir Pentious  
-fandom: Hazbin Hotel  
-pairing: OC x Sir Pentious

9\. Merry Christmas, Vox  
-fandom: Hazbin Hotel  
-pairing: Self Insert x Vox

10\. Merry Christmas, Shoto  
-fandom: My Hero Academia  
-pairing: Self Insert x Shoto Todoroaki


	2. Emily's Surprise Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mariah, her boys, and Emily's boys throw her a surprise birthday party!

**Mariah**

"Come on, Emily! We've gotta make it to their meeting before they get out! It's important!" I whined, trying to drag a reluctant Emily to my car. She pulled harder on the wall that she had a grip on.

"Mariah, damn it, let me go! Ivan and Ludwig said to stay home until they get back, so that we can all celebrate my birthday together!" Emily whined, pulling herself further into her house that she shared with Ludwig, Ivan, Roderick, and Berwald, or as the rest of the world knew them as: Germany, Russia, Austria, and Sweden. I sighed, dropping her arm and looking back at her with a deadpanned look in my eye.

"You know, for someone who calls herself my best friend, you aren't very trusting. You know me, and you know that I'll get you back in time for your boys to spend your birthday with you. Besides, you don't think my boys won't want to wish you a happy birthday? I know for a fact that Matthew has some cookies with your name on them, literally; Alfred took icing and smeared your name on every single one of them! It took us hours to get the kitchen back to normal and another hour trying to get the frosting off of me and Alfred, since he just decided to squirt it on me at the last minute..." I said, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting at Emily, giving her the puppy pout that I knew she couldn't resist, because I was and still am her "evil overlord" and best friend. She sighed and let the door go.

"Fine, but if I get reprimanded for not staying home, I'm going to your house, dragging you out by your hair and beating you in your front yard. And I will make sure that none of your boys can stop me

from doing this by bringing Ivan along!” she said, but I didn’t even listen to the threat, as I dragged her to my car, pushing her inside and getting in the driver’s seat, turning the car on and driving towards the WW2 G8 meeting, or as I like to call it, G8+1 meeting, since calling it G9 is apparently “not cool”, as Alfred says, but Matthew always appreciates it. So, anyways, back to the subject of me basically abducting my best friend, we only made it far enough to get stuck in traffic. Emily sighed and banged her head against the passenger window.

“Emily, don’t break my window with your forehead. Doing that isn’t going to make me turn around and bring you back home.” I laughed. She looked at me, and I just laughed more; she had the best imitation of my puppy pout, with her own little twist to it, ever! It still wasn’t enough to make me cave in, though. “Em, you realize we’re stuck in traffic, right? So, even if I wanted to take you back home, I couldn’t at the moment?” I asked her, smiling amused and flicking my eyes towards her for a second before putting them back on the road. I heard another sigh, and smiled, waiting out the traffic.

-meanwhile, at the convention center-

**Arthur**

I sighed as I pushed Francis’ face out of mine for the hundredth time this meeting. For a meeting where he can talk about himself and see his “little brother” Feliciano, the man sure bothers me a lot. ‘ _Maybe I can get Mariah to talk to him when she gets here…_ ’ I thought, before I smiled. Just thinking of Mariah’s name brought a smile to my face, but that smile was immediately replaced when I heard a voice.

“What cha smiling about, dude?” Flinching, I looked up and over, and two seats down from me was Alfred. I frowned. It wasn’t like I didn’t like Alfred, and I wasn’t still holding the American Revolution against him, but I still didn’t really like how loud he was sometimes.

“I was thinking about something, if you must know.” I said, not wanting to tell him. He just smiled at me.

“Dude, I know you were thinking about Mariah. You had on your ‘Mariah face’.” He smiled at me bigger, before going back to what he was doing. “And don’t worry about that, we all have one. I do, Francis does, even Matthew has one. And Ludwig, Ivan, Roderick, and Sve all have their ‘Emily face’, so don’t be embarrassed about it.” He said. I just looked at him, before I buried my face in my arms on the table in front of me. I heard laughing come from Alfred, but I didn’t feel like looking up at him. Sighing into my arms, I almost didn’t feel the hand being put on my back. I shifted my eyes to the arm, leading up the arm to the face of the person. I frowned lightly, seeing Matthew’s sympathetic look.

“Don’t worry about Alfred. He’s just trying to make you feel bad without saying anything mean.” He said, smiling down at me, before he jumped slightly. I shifted my entire face to look at him, raising my eyebrow at him at the fact that he jumped, before he showed me that it was his phone buzzing in his pocket. Opening it up, he smiled softly. “It’s Mariah. She says that she and Emily are caught in the lunch hour traffic rush, but they’ll be here as soon as possible.” He said, before typing something back, and mumbling something along the lines of ‘okay’ and ‘see you soon’. Blinking, I frowned, but then I smiled. At least they were on their way, and I could see my wife at some point. Pushing my face up, I cleared my throat and got the attention of everybody.

“Well, Mariah and Emily are caught in traffic, but they’ll be here as soon as they can. So, should we start setting everything up?” I suggested, getting up. Ivan got up and walked over to a corner of the room, picking up a bag and opening it.

“I agree with England. We should start setting up the surprise for my precious sunflower.” He said, before he smiled, but it wasn’t a creepy smile, and took something out of the bag and threw it at me. I was a little freaked out, I flinched, but caught it, and realized that he had thrown streamers at me, not anything dangerous. Blowing out a sigh of relief, I smiled, and got Matthew to help me put up the streamers everywhere in the room. Everyone gasped that there seemed to be an invisible person, except Ludwig, who pinched his nose and shook his head, before they realized that Matthew was in the room with us, so then they let it go. It took us all about an hour or two to actually get everywhere together, with Ludwig and Ivan leaving to go get the cake that all of them had designed. When they brought it in, my eyes widened; it had to be about five layers! It looked more like a wedding cake than anything else, really, but I wasn’t going to say anything about that. It had rainbow frosting and had the words ‘Happy Birthday Emi!’ written on the layers of the cake. I smiled.

“She’s going to love that. Either that, or Mariah’s going to shove it in her face until she does, but I think she’ll shove it anyways…” I said, laughing at the image of my wife shoving cake into the face of her best friend. Everyone else smiled around me, and we all continued to put up streamers and blow up balloons. This went on for about another hour or so, before we heard voices.

**Emily**

“Mariah, why are we deliberately letting Ludwig and Ivan know that I disobeyed what they asked me to do?” I asked, as Mariah walked me down the hall. Actually, she was basically dragging me, because I couldn’t see anything with the blindfold that she tied around my face. I just heard a giggle and felt another tug come from my best friend.

“Emily, just trust me. Nothing bad will happen to you. Even if they do see you, you really think that they’re going to be mad at you on your birthday?” she asked. I sighed again. It’s not like I thought that they were going to be mad at me, it’s just the fact that they told me to stay home until they got back, and I’m not only not listening to what they said, but I’m going to where they went in the first place. I just felt bad about it. Losing myself in my thoughts, I didn’t notice Mariah had stopped until I ran into her back. Both of us stumbled forward a little bit, and Mariah looked back at me with a smile only rivaled by our friend Megan, who was known as the Chesire cat of our little group of friends. Don’t ask me how I knew that she did that, but when you’ve known someone as long as I’ve known her, you tend to be able to see the person’s face, even when you can’t see, but that’s beside the point. Raising an eyebrow at her from under the blindfold, I heard a laugh, before I was straightened up.

“Mariah? What’s going on? It’s a lot darker than it was a minute ago…” I said, my voice shaking a little bit, as I heard a giggle.

“You’ll be fine, Emily! You’re not gonna die, I promise.” She said, before I heard the door slam shut behind me, making me jump. Little did I know that I was about to almost die…

**Mariah**

I walked around Emily and walked over to where I saw glasses shining in the dark room. Putting my hands out, I caught hod of two hands and moved to where I was nose to nose with the person. I giggled, finding myself being tickled by a curl. “Hey Matthew, did you guys get everything done?” I whispered, wrapping my arms around him. I felt him smile against my forehead.

“Yeah.” He whispered back, “We got everything done and still had time to close the meeting. You girls being stuck in traffic was actually a good thing.” He whispered, as he kissed my forehead. I smiled, and, looking at the other people in the room, we all nodded at each other.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY!”

“AH! OH MY GOD, WHAT THE FUCK?!” I laughed as Emily screamed and fell backwards, her eyes opening to the widest I have ever seen them and her hand going to her chest in shock. Laughing harder, I walked over to her, taking a picture of her and putting my hand out for her. Pouting, she took my help, but then hit me on the arm.

“Oh, I’m sorry Emi! That was priceless, though! You should have seen you fa- wait! You can!” I said, as I showed her the camera, and then pulled it out of her reach when she tried to reach for it and delete the picture. “This one’s going on Facebook later!” I said, as I threw the camera to Alfred, who caught it and put it in his pocket. Emily glared at me, but walked around me, shaking her head and walking over to Ivan. She couldn’t keep the glare on her face, however, since Ivan enveloped her in a big hug and kissed the top of her head, only to be pulled out of his grip by Ludwig and to get a hug and a kiss from him as well.

“Happy birthday, liebling. How about you blow out your candles now?” he said, smiling at her as he took her hand and brought her over to the big cake in the center of the room. Emily puffed out her cheeks to blow out her candles, but I rushed towards her and covered her mouth.

“No! You can’t blow them out until we sing for you! Come on, Em, don’t break tradition!” I whined. I could practically feel her roll her eyes as she laughed through my hands. Pushing me away, she smiled at me.

“Fine, go ahead and sing. But be quick about it, cause I think your husband is going to go crazy over waiting…” she said, pointing over behind me. Looking behind me, I saw Alfred bouncing up and down and looking at the cake. Laughing, I nodded.

“Alfred, sing her the song, then she’ll blow them out and then you can get a piece.” I smiled, and he stopped, his eyes widening, as he rushed over to me, followed by Matthew, Arthur, and Francis, while Ivan and Ludwig went over to Emily, and Feliciano, Kiku, and Yao stayed crowded around the two of us.

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Emily. Happy birthday to you!” both of us looked up just in time to be covered with cake and frosting, courtesy of Alfred tripping over his own two feet on his way across the room with his cake. For a second, everything and everyone in the room seemed to freeze, before Emily busted out laughing, followed by me. The two of us just laughed harder when we looked at each other. Getting help from Arthur and Ivan respectfully, we were both ushered over and tried to be taken care of, but that didn’t even work, since Francis decided to take cake and shove it right in my face. Thank god I closed my eyes in time!

**Emily**

I laughed harder as Francis shoved cake in Mariah’s face and smeared it all over. Smiling a small smile at the scene, my smile widened when I felt two arms wrap around my waist. Looking over his shoulder, I smiled up at Ivan and Ludwig. “Hey boys.” I said, whispering so as to not disturb the moment. The two of them smiled.

“Let’s go home, sunflower, da?” Ivan said, smiling at me with a true smile. Ludwig nodded.

“Ja, liebling, let’s go home. So that we can celebrate your birthday. We planned this with the allies, hoping you would like it, and judging by your reaction, I’d say that you did?” he said, smiling at the end. I smiled and nodded frantically.

“I really did! Thank you, boys! And yes, let’s go home! I think I can tell where Francis wants to go with the frosting…” I said, trailing off and looking over at Mariah, who was being defended from Francis and Alfred, who were trying to coat her with more frosting. I smiled and nodded as Ivan and Ludwig each took one of my hands and pulled me gently out of the room, going to the car to head back home. This was the best birthday surprise ever!

**Mariah**

I looked up at the sound of the door closing. Smiling, I silently wished Emily a happy birthday, before I turned back to the situation going on in front of me.

“Francis! Damn it, you arse, get back! Stop trying to coat Mariah in a complete layer of frosting! We’re at the meeting hall, for Christ’s sake!” Arthur yelled, pushing Francis further and further away from me, as Alfred ate cake at the table and Matthew was helping me get the frosting that was already all over me off.

“D'érable! You’re completely covered! Ugh… Why does Francis do this… Oh mon dieu…” he said, trailing off as he looked at the frosting on my face, and my smile. “D'érable…” he said, as he licked my cheek, kissing my frosting coated forehead afterwards and getting a napkin. Cleaning the rest of the frosting off, Matthew helped me up, and I got Alfred up and out of the meeting room, packing up the rest of the cake and taking it with us, since Emily just left it there.

“Arthur! Francis! Come on, we’re leaving, and we will leave you here! Cause I’m going home with Matthew, and Alfred’s already in the other car, in the driver’s seat…” I trailed off. Both Arthur and Francis’ eyes widened, and they both rushed out of the room, and out of the building to the car that they came in, hoping they could get to it before Alfred drove off. I laughed and held out my hand to Matthew, who took it and walked with me out of the building, going back to the car to go back home. Walking there, I looked up at the sky, thinking only one thing. ‘ _I hope you had the best birthday of your life, Emily. Happy birthday, my darling sister._ ’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -translations-  
> liebling: darling  
> d'érable: maple  
> mon dieu: my god


	3. Christmas Wish Come True

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily and Mariah get a very special present for Christmas

**Mariah**

I sighed as I fell on my side on the couch, my head falling into Emily’s lap. Looking up at her, I saw she was looking back at me, an eyebrow raised, but then she just shook her head and leaned it over the back of the couch, sighing. I looked up at her again, seeing a frown on her face, and an even bigger frown fell on my face. It was Christmas Eve today, and while it was supposed to be a day of happiness, the day just didn’t feel as magical as it was supposed to. Why, you ask? Because two of her boys and three of mine were out fighting in the war, against each other, no less. When we found out that they wouldn’t be here for Christmas, it just broke my heart, but Emily, Emily was a different story. You see, this would have been the first Christmas that she spent with her boys, but since Ludwig and Ivan had to go out to the front line, she was only able to spend it with Berwald and Roderick, and while she was still happy about that, it just didn’t feel complete. She had spent the whole day in her room, and wouldn’t let anyone in…

-flashback begin-

I fell down on the couch, my eyes slipping out of focus, as we were told the news that Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Ivan, and Ludwig wouldn’t be home for Christmas, because ethe war had taken a turn for the worse, and they were unable to come back. Tears started to come to my eyes, and a barely heard the sound of feet running out of the room, and a door slamming on the 2nd floor of the house. I just kept staring at the ground, until I felt a hand on my cheek. Flinching a little bit, I reached my hand up and put it in the hand resting on my face before he had a chance to flinch back. “D’erable… I know you’re disappointed… I’m so sorry, sweetie, I really am. Here, come here…” Matthew whispered, holding out his arm, and letting me hug him tightly. I sniffled.

“I-It’s just… T-They p-promised… They promised they would be here this year!” I cried, and Matthew just sighed.

“I know, sweetheart. I know… Shh… It will be okay…” he whispered and kissed my forehead. I sniffled, but pulled back from him, setting my forehead on his and looking at him with teary eyes.

“Well, it’s not as bad as I’m making it out to be… I’ve still got you for Christmas, Matthew… As long as I have at least one of you, I’m okay.” I smiled sadly, and he mimicked my smile, standing up and pulling me with him, hugging my waist closer.

“That’s right. And I’ll be right here with you for the rest of our days.” He smiled, and I smiled back, nuzzling his nose before getting out of his arms.

“I’ll go check on Emily… Sounds like she won’t let anyone into the room…” I said, kissing Matthew’s cheek and rushing out of the room. Climbing up the stairs, I was proven right when I saw Berwald and Roderick at their bedroom door, knocking on it and calling to Emily to open up. I sighed, and, walking over to the door, stopped the two from knocking. “That won’t do a thing. Don’t worry about it, boys, I’ll take care of her. We’ll be down in a minute.” I said, looking at them and giving a small smile. They frowned, but then nodded and walked down the stairs, probably to help Matthew with something or another. I looked back to the door, and tried opening it, only for it to be locked. “Damn it, Emily…” I muttered, as I reached into my pocket and got my wallet out, taking out a gift card with nothing on it, and slid it in between the door. Getting it open, I opened the door and walked in to see a lump under the blankets of the bed. Frowning, I ran over to the bed and jumped on it. Emily screamed, forcing herself up, and I laughed. “Bet you regret showing me how to break into things with cards now, huh, Em?” I smirked, and she stared at me, before going back under the blankets. I sighed, and pulled the covers back, getting under them and staring at her. She looked at me, and even with the darkness that the blankets were invoking, I could still see the red rimming her eyes, and the frown on her face. “Em, I know you’re upset about this, but hey, at least Berwald and Roderick are here. And you’ve got Matthew and me, too. We’re all here, and we will ring in the New Year together! Now, come on. Dry your face, you’re gonna give your husbands a heart attack. Smile, woman!” I said, reaching over and pulling up the two sides of her lips, forcing her to smile.

“Neh!” she whined, giggling and smacking my hands away. I smiled.

“There she is! There’s my best friend! Now come on! I smell maple syrup downstairs, and I bet I know who it belongs to!” I winked, and dragged her out of bed, running downstairs.

-flashback end-

That was a couple days ago. Sure we had come to terms with what was going on, but it was still depressing. I sighed and sat up again, getting up and walking to the archway leading into the kitchen. “Hey, Emi, you want anything from the kitchen while I’m there? I think there are still some of Matthew’s cookies left…” I said. She just looked at me with a blank look, shaking her head slightly. “Okay then…” I said, walking in, going over to Matthew at the sink and wrapping my arms around his torso, burying my face in his back and groaning.

“You okay, sweetie?” he asked, and I looked up at him, seeing a small smile on his face. I frowned slightly.

“Not really… Mattie, I’m bored! Usually there are fights to break up between Arthur and Francis, or Alfred is running around and laughing for no reason. Ugh! Bored!” I whined, hitting my forehead on his shoulder. I felt a laugh vibrate through him, as he turned around in my arms and wrapped his around my waist.

“Well, there’s not really much I can do, sweetie… Maybe Roderick can play something for you?” he asked, smiling at me sympathetically when I sighed and put my forehead on his chest. Kissing the top of my head, he pulled me back and smiled, grabbing a couple maple cookies and handing them to me. “Here. Take these and make sure Emily eats one. Both of you have been so down lately, you need something sweet to make you smile.” He said, kissing me briefly before he turned me around and pushed me off. I laughed, turning back to him, smiling, and going back to the living room with the cookies.

**Matthew**

The smile dropped from my face when Mariah left the room. Sighing, I finished washing things, just as the others came into the room. “What’s wrong, Matthew?” I looked back, seeing Tino with a worried look on his face, along with Roderick and Berwald. I frowned.

“It’s the girls. They’re both so tor up about Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Ivan, and Ludwig not being able to do anything for them. I wish there was something that we could do for them…” I said, looking out of the kitchen and to the living room, smiling slightly seeing Mariah trying to get Emily to eat one of the maple cookies I gave her. Tino followed my eyes and smiled slightly.

“Mayb’ th’r’ ‘s…” Berwald said, as he sat down at the table, all of us going to sit down, as we started to come up with a way to cheer our wives up.

-couple hours later-

“I think that would work.” Roderick said, and when I looked at him, I could have sworn there was a smile on his face. Berwald nodded, and Tino smiled big, before he looked at his watch, gasping.

“Oh! I’ve got to get going! It’s getting dark, and if I want to make it all the way, I’ve got to head out!” he said, before he got up and rushed out of the kitchen, pulling his jacket on as he left.

**Tino**

I rushed out of the kitchen and over to the couch. Mariah and Emily looked back at me in confusion, and I smiled at them, feeling in my pockets for something. Finding it, I smiled and pulled it out, holding it above their heads. “I’ve gotta get going now. Can’t let the kids of the world down, can I?” I smiled and leaned down, kissing Mariah’s cheek, then Emily’s. They both blushed but smiled and kissed my cheeks. I laughed and got up, dropping the mistletoe on the table on the way out. “Merry Christmas Eve, girls!” I shouted as I raced out the door.

“Merry Christmas Eve, Tino!” was the last thing I heard, before I closed the door and raced to the sled, determined to get to all the kids, before I got their Christmas presents.

**Emily**

I blinked as the door shut, smiling. “Hey, Mariah, what do you think the boys are doing?” I asked, looking over at her. She looked up to the ceiling, putting a finger on her bottom lip in thought, making me laugh. She looked back at me and smiled.

“Well, if they’re not fighting, I bet Ludwig is just listening to Feliciano talk about pasta! And Arthur and Francis are probably fighting over nothing, and Alfred is probably trying not to start something with Ivan, as usual. I just wish they were here so that you could see how funny their fights ge-” she said, before Matthew wrapped his arms around her neck, setting his chin on top of her head. Mariah blushed, looking up the best she could. I laughed, before I felt arms around my neck, too. Looking up, I smiled, seeing Berwald there, and put my hands on his.

“So, what are you girls up to?” Matthew asked, letting Mariah go, but holding onto her hand as he walked around the house, pulling her up and spinning her, before sitting down in her spot and pulling her back down. She giggled and snuggled up to him, making me smile.

“We were just talking about the boys…” I said, before I squealed. Berwald had picked me up from the couch, walked around it, and sat down where I was just sitting. Mariah laughed at me, and I stuck my tongue out at her, only making her laugh more as I cuddled up under Berwald’s chin.

“’m’ly, ‘m s’rry th’t th’y ’r’ n’t h’r’…” he said, and I smiled.

“It’s fine. Like Mariah said, at least I have you and Roderick here with me, so I’m okay. I’m still worried about the boys being out in the cold, but I’m happy that I at least have the two of you to spend Christmas with…” I said, as we heard feet running down the stairs, and a minute later, Peter was busting through the room. I laughed as he ran to the couch and wedged himself between Matthew and Berwald.

“Did I miss anything?!” he asked, and Mariah smiled, ruffling his hair.

“Nope. Didn’t miss a thing, sugar.” She said, leaning over and kissing his head, as Matthew ruffled his hair more. He laughed, and she sighed, leaning back into Matthew, as he laughed and kissed her cheek. I smiled, leaning into Berwald more, as his arms tightened a little around my waist.

“Hey, Peter…” I started, and he looked at me smiling. “What do you wan for Christmas?” I asked him, and he smiled.

“I want mama and Auntie Emily to be happy.” He said, and my eyes widened, as well as Mariah’s. She looked like she was going to start crying, and I smiled at her, reaching my hand out for hers, looking at her. She seemed to get the hint, because she took hold of my hand, and pulled, making both me and Berwald move forward, and all of us hugged Peter, as he giggled from being dog piled. Mariah kissed his forehead.

“You are the sweetest little boy in the world! Thank you, Peter. And don’t you worry. We are very happy. We have you and papa and your uncles with us!” she said, as Matthew nuzzled her neck. I giggled, before I smelled something coming from the kitchen. Twisting in Berwald’s lap, I looked to the kitchen, seeing Roderick making things. Blushing, I turned around again before he had a chance to look around and see me smiling at him doing something he loves. Berwald looked down at me, and a small smile came to his face, making my face darken. I looked over, hearing laughter, to see Mariah laughing lightly at me, probably my face, before she started laughing louder when Matthew started tickling her. I smirked at her, before I heard three pairs of laughs. Smiling at Berwald, before I looked up to see Roderick standing behind the couch, his sleeves rolled up and smiling at Matthew and Mariah, then looking down at me.

“Do you mind coming in the kitchen, dear? Mariah? There’s something that I need both of your help with.” He said, and I nodded, getting up, as Mariah got out of Matthew’s grip, giggling slightly. She leaned down, putting her hands on Matt’s knees and kissed him, before standing back up and nodding, grabbing my hand and rushing to the kitchen. I squeaked, but laughed, as all the boys followed us, until I ran into Mariah’s back.

“Why’d you sto-” I was cut off when I looked into the kitchen. Cookies, cakes, and hot chocolate sat on the table, with milk to complete the whole thing. My eyes widened, and looking over at my friend, hers widened, too.

**Mariah**

I stared in amazement at all the sweets on the table, before I felt arms wrap around my waist, and a chin settle on my shoulder. Looking over to the culprit, I saw Matthew smiling at me. “Do you like it? We wanted to cheer the both of you up.” He said, kissing my neck gently. I blushed and turned around in his arms and wrapped my arms around his neck, smiling at him. I could see Emily doing the same to Berwald, but around his torso, making me giggle. Turning back to Matthew, I pushed my forehead against his, smiling at him.

“I love it, Mattie. Thank you so much.” I whispered, setting a loving kiss on his lips. I could feel him smiling against my lips, which made me smile, and pull him closer. Pulling back from him, I hugged him tightly, while he laughed. Pulling me back by my waist, he smiled at me and took my hand, walking into the kitchen and leading me over to the table. He sat down at the table, pulling me down onto his lap. I squealed, seeing the remaining maple cookies sitting in front of me. Chuckling, Matthew took one of them and bit into it, holding it between his teeth and looking at me. I blushed, but smiled and bit the other side, taking it from him.

“You guys are so cheesy!” I heard Emily laugh, and I looked at her with one eye, before I looked back at Mattie, who then smirked, making one come to my face. Biting off the rest of the cookie, I looked over at her. Her eyebrow rose at the two of us, as her eyes went back and forth. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, as I slowly got off of Matthew’s lap. Her eyes widened, and she got up, backing away from me. “No… No, Mariah! No! I swear to God! AH! NO!” she laughed at the end, as I tackled her to the ground and started tickling her. This went on for a while, while all the boys just laughed, chuckled or smiled at the two of us. After a while, I felt myself being picked up by the waist and put over someone’s shoulder. Looking at Matthew, I saw him smiling at me, before he looked up, and his face turned scarlet. Raising an eyebrow at him, I looked at Emily to see her giggling, while Berwald and Roderick smiled at me. Emily smiled and pointed up. Looking to the ceiling, I blushed darker than Matthew, if that was possible. Letting me down, one of his arms wound its way around my waist, while his other hand came up to rest on my cheek, grazing his thumb over it, smiling at me. I smiled back at him, before my eyes shifted to Emily. “Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!” Emily was cheering, and before I could say anything, Matthew laughed and pulled me into him, catching my lips with his sweet maple tasting ones. Smiling into the kiss, I wrapped one of my arms around his neck, the other hand resting on his heart and kissed back, grabbing a hold on his shirt, giggling into the kiss when I heard a cheer ring out in the kitchen from my best friend. Pulling back from him, I rested my forehead on his, smiling at him lovingly and moving my other hand up to rest around his neck and mess with his hair.

“I love you.” I mouthed to him, as he face reddened a little bit.

“Je ‘taime aussi, mon amour.” He whispered, and my face matched his. Smiles softened, as we both looked up at the ceiling, before my eyes caught sight of something, making a smirk come to my face.

“Oh Emily…” I said, and she looked at me with a creeped out look at my tone, which was meant to be creepy.

“What…” she asked, weary of me as I smiled at her and pointed upwards. Looking up, her eyes widened, and her face looked like the maple leaf on Matthew’s shirt.

“Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!” I started chanting, and Matthew joined in, as Roderick smiled and pulled her over to himself, kissing one side of her face, right on the edge of her lips, as Berwald did the same on the other side. I cheered, raising my arms in the air, as Matthew laughed, as something unknown to the both of us was going on in the living room.

**Tino**

I snuck back into the house, putting two presents under the tree, as I looked into the kitchen hearing Mariah cheering, and Matthew laughing. I smiled, and left the house, closing the door quietly and continuing on my way around the world.

-hours later, adult present time-

**Emily**

I yawned as I fell back on Ivan’s recliner, laying all the way back in it. I looked up as I saw Mariah collapsed on the couch, before she was pulled up on Matthew’s lap, her head resting on his chest. They had just spent the last four hours trying to get Peter to fall asleep, to which he finally did a minute ago. Yawning again, I heard Berwald chuckle a little under his breath. “Y’’r t’r’d, w’f’?” Peeking over at him, both he and Roderick had smiles on their faces.

“Mm… Hm…” I mumbled, my eyes closing again, as I heard a yawn resound from the couch.

“Sounds like d’erable’s tired, too. Come on, sweetie, you can’t go to sleep yet! You’ve still got the one present to open…” he said, and looked over to see Mariah looking up at her husband with tired eyes, as she yawned.

“O-Okay… but I’m not getting up to get i-” she said, before I was handed my present. Berwald went to give her hers, but I took it and threw it over at her, hitting her stomach. She looked over at me with a sleepy glare, and I laughed, laughing more when she stuck her tongue out at me, before turning around with the present and curling into Matthew. He laughed, and leaned down, kissing the top of her head. Looking up at Berwald and Roderick, who were looking down at me from behind the recliner. Looking at the box, I slowly ripped the wrapping off, but then a confused look ran over my face. A video tape was sitting on my lap. “What?” Looking over to Mariah, I saw her holding up a matching video tape. “Hey, Emi… is there a number on yours? There’s a two on mine…” she said, and I looked at my tape, where there was indeed a number one on it.

“Yeah…” I muttered. Roderick looked at the tape.

“Maybe you should watch it. We can go to sleep afterwards.” He said, and I nodded, giving it to him. He put the tape in the VCR, and pressed play, before coming back over to the recliner.

_“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Dude, it’s SO cold!” The sound of an obnoxious laugh was heard._

Mariah shot up from Matthew’s chest, staring at the screen with wide, teary eyes. A second later, I knew why, as my eyes watered, too. Our boys were on the screen.

_“Guten tag, liebling! I’m so sorry that ve’re not there with you right now…” Ludwig said, smiling at me from wherever he was. Ivan looked into the camera, too._

_“Privet, sunflower! It is cold here. Reminds me of our home, but you’re missing from it… I will be back as soon as I can, though!” Ivan smiled at me._

My eyes watered over, and the tears spilled. I sniffled, trying to get them under control, as the others took their turns.

_“Dudes! Dudes, move, it’s our turn!” Alfred’s voice said, and a second later, there was a sigh._

_“Alfred, shut up. You’re giving me a headache!” another voice, Arthur’s, sighed, before the camera was moved again, Francis coming into view._

_“Bonjour, mon amour! I miss you! It’s ‘ard to be here when you’re so far away from moi!” Francis said, pouting._

Mariah laughed. “I miss you too, Francis!” she sniffled, and I smiled, watching her talk to the tape, before another blonde man came on the screen.

_“Hello, love! I’m sorry that I’m not there with you right now, but believe me, I’d rather be there than here with only the frog and the fatarse to remind me of yo-”_

_“DUDE! I’M NOT A FAT ASS! SHUT UP!”_

Mariah sniffled again, but giggled, and I giggled with her, as Alfred came on the screen.

_“Well… Despite eyebrows’ rudeness… Against my epic hero self… I really do miss you, baby! Don’t worry, when I get back, you will never leave my sight!” he smiled big. “And you’ll get a hero hug! Don’t miss me too much, cause I’m pretty sure that I miss you SO much more than you miss me! I miss you more than tttthhhiiiisssss mmmmuuuuccccchhhh!” he said, as he stretched his arms out as far as they were able to go, and then tried to stretch even further. He smiled at the camera, before he laughed again. “Well, girls, there’s one more thing that we need to tell the two of you! SO…” he said, before looking over off screen. The view then went to Ludwig and Ivan again, who were smiling and making hearts with their fingers over their hearts._

_“Ich liebe dich, Emily!” Ludwig said, smiling at the screen._

I smiled softly. “Ich liebe dich, Ludwig…” I whispered, tears starting to fall down my cheeks again.

 _“_ _я_ _тебя_ _люблю_ _,_ _подсолнечник_ _!_ _” Ivan beamed, sending the screen a closed eyed smile._

“я тебя люблю, Ivan…” I said, as I felt Berwald and Roderick wipe my eyes with their thumbs.

**Mariah**

I smiled over at Emily, as her boys dried her tears away. Looking back to the screen, my own set of tears started to sting my eyes.

_“Je taime, mon amour! Je taime tellement, mon fleur!” Francis said, blowing me kisses._

“Je taime, Francis… Je taime…” I whispered, and I knew Matthew heard the sadness in my voice, regardless of me trying to keep it out.

_“I love you, poppet! I truly do, and I promise, when I get back, we will do whatever you want!” Arthur smiled at me from the screen, making a heart with his fingers and putting it over his heart._

“I love you, too… Arthur…” I whispered again, but I could feel the lump in my throat, and it didn’t feel like it was going away any time soon.

_“you’re my number one girl, babe! I love you SO much, and miss you even more, it’s not even funny! I’ll do whatever you want when I get back, even if I have to spend time with eyebrows over here! Cross my heart!” he said, pointing to Arthur, and crossing over his heart, before he continued. “Now, I need the two of you to do us a favor. You watched this tape, but I need the two of you to promise you won’t watch the other one until tomorrow morning.” He smiled._

Emily nodded, and I looked at the tape, pouting, before looking back up at the sound of Alfred’s laugh.

_“Well, that’s great! But babe, seriously, don’t look at the tape!” he said, pointing at the screen and fixing me with a look. “I know you, and I know that you will probably try to look at it anyways, so Matt, I need you to make sure she doesn’t look at it, no matter what!”_

Emily laughed. “Well, he definitely knows you, Mariah!” she said, laughing harder, as I pouted.

“Fine. I won’t look at the tape… Promise…” I pouted more, as Matthew laughed and squeezed my waist, kissing my cheek lightly. I saw Alfred smile at me from the screen, as he, Arthur, and Francis laughed.

_“That’s my baby! Don’t worry, tomorrow, watch it first thing, as soon as the two of you get downstairs! You won’t regret it! But, for now, good night, sweet dreams, all of us love the both of you very much, and one more thing…” Alfred trailed off._

_“MERRY CHRISTMAS!” all of the shouted, in English, French, Russian, and German. They all waved and blew kisses at the screen, before the tape ended._

The two of us sat there, tears clouding our vision. My lip trembled, before I felt the tears go down my face, and I buried my face in Matthew’s chest. He sighed and wrapped his arm around me further and ran his other hand through my hair. “Sshh… D’erable… It’s okay… Come on, let’s get up to bed…” he said, getting off the couch, holding me in his arms. Looking back to everyone else, he smiled. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow. Good night, Emily, Berwald, Roderick.” He smiled, and they smiled back, waving to Matthew and me. I waved back, before yawning and slumping against Matthew’s chest.

“Night… Emi… Berwald… Roderick…” I mumbled out, barely hearing their replies as we walked out of the room, walking to the guest room. Matthew walked in the room, closing the door behind him and walking over to the bed, setting me down in it before he got in himself. He pulled me to him, kissing my lips softly, smiling against them. I smiled, reaching my hands tiredly up to his face, cupping his cheeks and kissing back just as softly. Pulling back, I set my forehead on his. “Je taime, Mattheiu… Je taime, tellement, mon feuille d’erable…” I smiled, and he smiled back.

“Je taime aussi, mon doux amour… Bonne nuit.” He whispered.

“Bonne… nuit…” I whispered, snuggling up to him and falling asleep, the sound of his heartbeat lulling me to sleep.

“Bonne nuit… cherie…” he whispered, as he kissed my forehead and fell asleep himself.

**Emily**

I smiled sleepily as Matthew carried Mariah out of the room. Yawning again, I snuggled into the couch, before I felt myself being picked up into a pair of strong arms. Snuggling into him, I knew it was Berwald when I heard him chuckle, another hand moving hair from my face and behind my ear. “Let’s get ‘er to bed. She looks even more tired zhan she did a minute ago.” Roderick’s voice drifted into my ears, as I yawned again, rubbing my eyes. Two soft laughs entered my ears, as I felt myself being moved upwards, and before I knew it, I was being sat down in the middle of a bed, two separate weights being put on both sides of the bed. Arms wrapped around me, and I yawned, snuggling into both of their arms.

“Good… night… Berwald… Roderick… see you… to-morrow…” I yawned out, before I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer.

“G’n’ght, w’f’…” Berwald said, kissing my forehead, before he settled down ino the blankets.

“Good night, Emily. Sweet dreams, liebling.” Roderick whispered, kissing my cheek and also settling into bed, his nose nuzzling into my neck. I smiled, as I drifted off to sleep, the sounds of both of my husbands sleeping lulling me to sleep.

-Christmas Morning-

I woke up to the feel of arms around my waist, and an arm under my head. Blinking sleep from my eyes, I saw a broad chest, and, looking up, I saw Berwald’s sleeping face. Smiling to myself, I yawned, and settled back down in between him and Roderick; I didn’t hear any whispering voices, so I just assumed that Mariah and Matthew weren’t awake yet, and I could get a little more sleep.

**Mariah**

I moaned slightly, one of my eyes sleepily opening up again, to see the alarm clock on the side table say 6:00 am. Groaning, I turned over in the arms that were wrapped around my frame and looked at the peaceful expression on Matthew’s face. Smiling sleepily, I leaned over and kissed his forehead, before I snuggled deeper into his arms, burying my face in the crook of his neck and falling asleep again.

**Tino**

Yawning out loud, I stretched as I landed the sleigh in the shed behind the house. Getting out, I looked behind me and motioned for five people to get out of the sleigh. “I’m going to go see if they’re awake yet. You stay here.” I whispered and got nods in understanding. I walked quietly out of the shed and slipped into the house. Seeing nobody downstairs, I walked up the stairs and peeking into the main room. Emily was still asleep, Berwald and Roderick on either side of her. Smiling, I closed the door again, and went to the guest room, peeking in there as well. Mariah was nuzzled up to Matthew, one of his arms wrapped around him and him keeping her warm. I smiled and closed the door, walking back down the stairs and out the door, to the shed. Opening it, five pairs of eyes looked up at me. “They’re not awake yet. So, we’re going to be here for a little while longer.” I whispered, loudly enough for them to hear me, but still quiet enough to where the inhabitants of the house wouldn’t wake up and see what was going on.

**Emily**

Opening my eyes, I looked up to see Berwald looking at me, a small smile on his face. I blushed, but smiled back lightly. “Hey… Merry Christmas…” I whispered, not wanting to wake the other person in the room, who was still deep in sleep. Berwald smiled at me.

“M’rry Chr’stm’s, ‘m’ly.” He whispered, and I giggled lightly, and gently got out from under Roderick’s arm, not wanting to wake him up. Crawling off the bed, I tip-toed around the bed and got the comforter. Berwald got off the bed, and I put the comforter over Roderick, kissing his temple and sneaking out of the room and down the hall to Mariah’s room, while Berwald just chucked lightly and walked down the stairs. As I was about to open the door, I heard two screams, before I heard laughing. Opening the door, I saw Mariah and Matthew tickling Peter, who was trapped under the both of them. Mariah looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled at me. She turned back around and kissed Peter’s forehead, before letting him get up and scramble out of their bed.

“Go ahead and head downstairs sweetie. We’ll be down in a minute.” She smiled at him, and he nodded, running past me, but not before giving me a hug around my waist.

“Merry Christmas, Auntie Emily!” he said.

“Merry Christmas, Peter. Berwald’s already downstairs.” I smiled at him, and his eyes and smile widened more, and he practically raced down the stairs.

“LOOK AT ALL THIS STUFF!” we heard from downstairs, and Mariah laughed, getting out of bed and stretching, running her fingers through her hair lightly.

“I’ll be downstairs, making sure Peter doesn’t open anything without you. Merry Christmas, Mariah, Matthew.” I smiled, before I started walking out the door, and down the stairs, hearing two voices telling me the same.

**Mariah**

After Emily left, I sighed, stretching again and moaning lightly when I heard and felt a pop in my back. Matthew laughed, and a second later, I felt arms wrap around my waist, swaying me back and forth. Laughing under my breath, I wrapped one of my arms around his neck, and rested my other hand on his face, before I was spun around in his arms. “Joyeux Noël, Matthieu!” I giggled, nuzzling his nose, as he did the same.

“Joyeux Noël, Mariah…” he whispered back, before he pecked my lips lightly, holding me there for a second. Smiling, I kissed back, but then we pulled back and smiled at one another. Matt then let me go and turned me around, pushing me over to my side of the bed. “Why don’t you get that tape so that we can go watch it, okay? I know you’ve been thinking about it all night…” he said, laughing as my eyes lit up and I rushed to the side table, opening the drawer and picking up the tape, before running around the bed and out the door, grabbing Matthew’s hand on the way out. Going down the stairs, I stopped fast and peeked around the corner, snickering at what I saw. “What?” Matthew whispered, and I pointed out towards the other room. Looking around me, his eyes widened, before he laughed lightly.

“I don’t think that’s what she meant when she said she’d keep an eye on Peter…” I laughed, as we snuck closer, and I pulled out my phone.

**Emily**

As I got to the living room, I immediately saw Peter with a box in his hands, shaking it. Sneaking up behind him, I scooped him up, making him drop the box and squeal. “Aunt Emily!” he laughed, turning around and hugging me. I smiled and hugged back.

“Merry Christmas, Peter. Think you can wait for your mommy and papa to come downstairs before you start ripping things open? I know they really wanted to watch you open everything.” I smiled at my nephew. He nodded.

“Okay… I can wait…” he said, and I set him down, kissing the top of his head lightly.

“Awesome.” I said, before I was lifted up off my feet. Leaning my head back, I looked up at Berwald’s face, which had a miniscule smile on it. He set me down, but the hold on my waist didn’t disappear.

“Y’ kn’w, y’r r’’ll’ gr’’t w’th P’t’r.” he said, and I blushed, smiling at the compliment. Turning in my arms, I put my chin on his lower chest and looking up at him. He looked down at me, and the miniscule smile got a little bigger, so that anyone looking in could see it was a smile, too. Leaning down, he closed the distance between our foreheads and nose.

“Peter’s in the room…” I whispered, not wanting to alert said boy of what was going on behind him. Berwald’s eyes softened.

“D’’s n’t m’tt’r.” he whispered back, and closed the distance between our lips. I gasped lightly, but kissed him back, closing my eyes and gripping the front of his pajama shirt with my hands, while his arms wound themselves around my waist. I smiled into the kiss, and was about to deepen it, but then I heard the sound of a phone taking a picture. Pulling back, my eyes widened to see Mariah and Matthew standing there. Matthew seemed to be biting his lip trying not to laugh, while Mariah was smirking at me, phone up and pointed at us. My face darkened.

“I don’t think that that’s how you make sure a kid doesn’t open his presents, Emi.” She laughed, winking at me. “And I’ve got some proof now. That is now your caller i.d.!” she laughed more. I tried getting the phone away from her, but by the time I had gotten over to her, she had dropped her phone down the front of her shirt into her bra, and stuck her tongue out at me. I hit my forehead with my palm, sighing and shaking my head.

“Give it back, Mariah…” I said, knowing full well she wouldn’t give it back. She’s more like my sister than my best friend, so of course she wouldn’t give it back without a struggle. Looking at her, I saw her smirking at me, her arms crossed under her bust.

“I dare you to try and get it back.” She smirked, and when I did nothing, she smiled at me and hugged me. “Love you, Emi!” she said, and I laughed, hugging her back.

“Love you too. Now, where’s the tape? I wanna see what the boys didn’t want us to see until today!” I exclaimed, jumping up and down, and Mariah’s expression brightened and she jumped, running around the couch and putting the tape in the VCR, before she went over the couch and sat down on Matthew’s lap, while I did the same thing with Berwald, and Peter sat right in between the both of us.

**Tino**

I perked up, hearing the sounds of life coming from the house and, smiling, I turned to the other inhabitants of the shed. “It’s show time.” I whispered, motioning for them to follow me quietly. I led them in the house, all of them taking their shoes off to quiet their steps, as all of them filed into the living room, where the girls were unsuspectingly watching the tape.

**Mariah**

I hit play with the remote, before setting it down and snuggling into Matt again. The tape started, and the first person on the screen was Alfred, smiling big at us.

_“Hey! I see you didn’t look at the tape early! That’s awesome, I am so proud of you, babe!” he said, smiling big._

_“Git! Of course she didn’t look, she’s not like you, who doesn’t listen to a single thing anybody ever says!” Arthur shout, before coming onto the screen, his frown melting into a smile. “Merry Christmas, love!” he smiled, waving at me from the screen. I could see Francis behind him, sneaking up behind. “Francis, I swear to God, if you pounce on me…” he said, and Francis pouted._

_“Aw, Arzhur! You ruined it! It would ‘ave made Mariah laugh!” he pouted, but looked at the screen. “Joyeux Noël, mon ange!” he smiled, blowing me a kiss._

“Oh my god!” I laughed, blushing and burying my face in Matthew’s chest to try and quiet my laughter. Unknown to me, Arthur glared at Francis behind me, but then they both smiled at me.

 _“_ _С_ _Рождеством_ _Христовым_ _,_ _подсолнечник_ _!_ _”_ _Ivan’s smile popped out of nowhere, and he waved at the camera. The camera soon backed up, and Ludwig was in view, too._

_“Frohe Weihnachten, schatz!”he smiled at the screen._

I looked over to Emily, to see her smiling at the screen, snuggled up to Berwald and mouthing something back to the screen. Smiling, I looked up at Matthew, who was looking down at me and mimicking me.

**Emily**

I continued listening to the tape, but my eyes wandered over to where Mariah was sitting on Matthew’s lap, and I smiled. The two of them were looking at each other and smiling, caught up in their own little world. Looking back to the screen, I smiled, seeing Ludwig still on the screen.

_“Now, Emily, I need you to do something. I need you to do this too, Mariah.” he said._

At the mention of her name, Mariah looked up from Matthew, to the screen. Looking back, I saw Ludwig smile.

_“Now that I’ve got your attention, there is something that I need for the two of you to do, but first, Mariah, Merry Christmas.” He said, and would have continued, but was cut off by three voices of “Merry Christmas, Emily” and “Joyeux Noël, mon ami”, as well as laughing. Ludwig rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, before continuing. “As I vas saying… There is something that I need for you to do for me. I need the two of you to turn around.” He said, smiling a tiny smile._

I raised my eyebrow at the screen, as the tape ended, and, looking over at Mariah, I saw her “what the hell?” look on her face. She looked at me and we exchanged a nod, before the both of us turned around, gasps leaving our lips.

**Mariah**

We both turned around, and my eyes widened. Standing behind us was Alfred, Arthur, Francis, Ivan and Ludwig, all in a row, and all smiling at the two of us. “Oh my god! Ludwig! Ivan!” Emily cried out, practically flying out of Berwald’s lap and to her boys, as they hugged her, lifting her off of the ground. Matt had moved me out of his lap and looked over at his brothers, as I got on my knees, and sat on my legs, wide eyed. I felt Matthew nudge my side gently, and I stood up, just continuing to stare at the three men on the other side of the couch, who were all sending me loving smiles. I was so dazed, I barely registered Alfred walk forward and lean on the couch, crossing his arms and setting them down on the couch.

“Hey babe. Hahaha! You look like you’ve seen a ghost, baby! What’s wrong? Iggy got your tongue?” he asked, his smile turning into an amused smirk. My eyes widened more, and tears came to them, and I ran around the couch. I would have tripped, and actually, I did, but I pushed myself up and ran, not only knocking Alfred back into Arthur and Francis, but making all of them fall on the ground, snuggling into them and kissing every inch of their faces. The whole room seemed to freeze, until a laugh broke it, and I looked back at Matthew, smiling at his laughter, before I joined him, and was then joined by all three boys under me. Each of them leaned up and kissed my forehead, before I was hauled up on my feet. I spun around and hugged Matthew around his neck, kissing his nose, before I went back to hugging him.

“I’m glad you liked your present, Mariah…” he whispered, and I pulled back from him, blushing scarlet.

“I did. I really loved this. Thank you…” I whispered, reaching one arm out to the boys, who gladly accepted the gesture, Alfred reaching me first and enveloping both Matthew and me in a huge hug. Laughing, I took a peek over at Emily, to see her looking at me. I smiled at her.

**Emily**

I smiled as my eyes clouded over with tears. “I-Ivan… L-Ludwig… H-How did you… W-When did you…” I stuttered, not able to even think of a way to actual express what I wanted to. Ivan laughed and kissed the center of my forehead.

“We’re you’re special Christmas present, da. Finland came and got all of us.” He smiled, and my eyes widened, as I looked back at Berwald, who just smiled at me.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?” I asked.

“Knew about what?” I looked to the door and saw Roderick leaning against the door, before he smiled and walked over, yawning into his hand and smiling at me. Giving me a quick hug, he kissed the top of my head. “Frohe Weihnachten, liebling!”he said, smiling big, as I smiled back at him. Pulling him in, too, I giggled as I was kissed on four different parts of my head. I looked over to Mariah, to see her and Matthew in the middle of a huge bear hug, courtesy of Alfred, Arthur and Francis, but from the looks of it, it was mostly Alfred’s doing. She looked at me and smiled at me, her eyes looking glassy and glazed over with happiness. I smiled back at her.

“Merry Christmas, Mariah.” I mouthed to her, and she smiled softly, smiling bigger.

“Happy Christmas, Emi.” She mouthed back, and then we both went back to showering our boys with attention.

-Extended Ending-

"Mama! Daddy, Papa! PRESENTS!" Peter whined, pulling on Mariah's pajama pants. Mariah pulled back from Matthew, Alfred, Arthur and Francis, as all of them laughed. She leaned down and picked Peter up, as he hugged her tight.

"Oh yeah... You've got presents, too... No, I remember, sweetie. Go see what you can find." She smiled, kissing Peter's forehead and setting him down. He went to run to the tree, and by now Emily had broken away from her boys, and was watching Peter as well. Peter stopped, and ran back to Mariah, running past her and hugging Alfred, Matthew, Francis and Arthur around their knees tightly, before running and doing the same thing to Berwald, Roderick, Ivan, Ludwig and Emily. After he was satisfied, he ran over to the tree and started hunting for presents. All of the adults in the room were shocked. Peter had never done anything like that before. He was always a little more concerned about his stuff; he got that trait from Alfred, much to everyone but Alfred's dismay. Smiles made ways to face as they watched Peter opening presents, setting aside ones that were for other people. Mariah looked back, seeing Tino in his fuzzy white and blue pajamas, and sent him a smile, as he sent her a drowsy one back. Stumbling over, he leaned into her as she hugged him. She kissed his forehead and smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Santa. Thank you so much..." she whispered, so that Peter couldn't hear her. He smiled, as Emily came over and did the same thing.

"You're both very welcome. Merry Christmas..." he yawned, and fell asleep standing. Mariah laughed and was able to pick him up bridal and take him to the couch, sitting and letting him rest his head on her lap. Emily leaned her elbows on Mariah's shoulders, and as they watched Peter open presents and Tino sleeping off his work day, their husbands circled around them, and one thing ran through both of their minds.

_'Best. Christmas. Ever.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -translations-  
> d'érable: maple  
> je 'taime aussi, mon amour: I love you too, my love  
> guten tag, liebling: good day, darling (hello, darling)  
> privet: hi  
> bonjour, mon amour: hello, my love  
> moi: me  
> ich liebe dich: I love you  
> я тебя люблю, подсолнечник: I love you, sunflower  
> je 'taime tellement, mon fleur: I love you so much, my flower  
> mon feuille d'érable: my maple leaf  
> mon doux amour: my sweet love  
> bonne nuit: good night  
> liebling: darling  
> Joyeux Noël: merry christmas  
> mon ange: my angel  
> С Рождеством Христовым: merry christmas  
> Frohe Weihnachten, schatz: merry christmas, sweetie  
> mon ami: my friend


	4. My Song for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roderick didn't know what to get Emily for Christmas, but ended up giving her the perfect gift

**Emily**

I yawned as my eyes opened to the sound of piano playing. Smiling, I rushed out of bed and raced down the stairs, halting at the opening to Roderick’s music room. I smiled and leaned against the entryway, watching him play his piano, the smile on his face making me blush lightly. When he was done, I applauded him, making him jump and look over towards me. He smiled and scooted over on the piano seat, gesturing for me to sit next to him on the seat. I smiled and rushed over, sitting down, as he started playing a tune that I didn’t really recognize. “The lyrics are on the sheet music, liebling.” He said, and I looked at the music, nodding as he started over.

“Didn't know what to get you, ordinary just wouldn't do, but I just found the perfect gift. For you” I started and shifted my eyes to Roderick to see his eyes closed and a smile on his face, making my face light up as I continued singing. “Now I got it all ready, but it's not wrapped in red or green, come and sit down beside me here. Underneath the Christmas tree.” I sang, before he joined in.

“We've got mistletoe and firelights, on this cold December night. The snow outside will set the mood, as I sing my song, for you.” We sang together, his voice quieting as I sang the next part.

“I hear church bells ringing, carolers are singing harmony with me now.” Roderick sang the last part of the sentence with me, before singing a line.

“You are looking so lovely, yeah, even if the lights go out.” He sang, and I sang the last part with him, before the two of us went back into the chorus.

“We've got mistletoe and firelights, on this cold December night. The snow outside will set the mood, as I sing my song for you.” My voice quieted down as he sang the next part.

“You're so beautiful, I only hope you see what I see.” He sang, and I echoed the last word, tears starting to prick my eyes.

“Every word is meant to show you how much you mean to me…” we paused for a second, before he smiled at me, going back to the music.

“We've got mistletoe, and firelights, on this cold December night.” I sang, his voice joining mine.

“The snow outside will set the mood, as I sing my song.” We went back and forth after that, playing off of each other’s voices. “We've got mistletoe (mistletoe), and firelight (firelight).”

“On this cold December night, the snow outside will set the mood, as I sing my song (sing my song). Sing my song for you.” The song ended, and he played a few more bars before his fingers lifted off of the keys, as he turned to me with a smile on his face. Roderick swiped his thumb over my cheek, getting rid of the tears that were there, and I smiled at him, hugging him tightly. He chuckled softly and hugged me back, kissing the top of my head gently.

“That is my Christmas present to you this year, liebling. I couldn’t think of anything, but then I remembered how much you loved my playing. I thought that writing a song that was just for you would be the perfect thing to give you. Did you like it?” he asked, and I smiled and sniffled up at him.

“I loved it. It was the best present ever.” I whispered, hugging him again and burying my face into his neck, smiling when he hugged me again.

“Merry Christmas, Emily.” He whispered, and I smiled against his neck softly.

“Merry Christmas, Roderick… Merry Christmas…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -translations-  
> liebling: darling


	5. Mistletoe Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus catches a new human, but he also catches something else

“You’re gonna have to remind me why we’re doing this again, Rye. Cause tibia honest, it seems kinda redundant to plant something on the ceiling…” Sans said, staring up at a brunette female, who was being held up by red magic as she gently hung up a red and green plant on the ceiling. Rolling her eyes, she looked down at him and smiled, which made his everlasting smile widen as he lowered her to the ground, only to capture her in his arms and not let her go. Laughing, the human smiled up at him and stood on the tips of her toes to kiss his golden tooth, resulting in a red stained skull.

“Ha ha. Very funny. You should ask Grillby if you can do a comedy night; you could call it Punypalooza.” She said, smiling at her own joke, as Sans stared at her before rewarding her with his own chuckles. Letting her go, he sat down on the couch, covering his face with his skeletal hand.

“Okay, okay Mariah. You got me. Now, you wanna explain what that thing is? Cause I can guarantee that Boss ain’t gonna like it when he sees it, sweetheart.” He said, his smile turning slightly down when he said his brother’s title. Mariah frowned, looking over at him, before walking over to the couch, putting her hands on either side of Sans’ head and putting her forehead against his skull. The red tint of his skull returned with a vengeance, and she smiled devilishly at him.

“I could tell you, but I think you’d appreciate a demonstration even more.” She said, before getting up and grabbing one of his hands, pulling him up with her. Having been caught off guard, Sans let her pull him up and over to the center of the room, where the plant hung over their heads. Pointing up, both of their eyes followed her hand as she explained. “This is a mistletoe. When two people stand underneath it… well… something happens.” She said, and looked back to him. Sans raised a bonebrow at her, before she gave him his answer. Mariah pulled him down to her level by his shirt, planting her lips on his smile. Sans flinched, before his surprised smile turned to a smirk as he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet so that she was on his level. When she pulled away from him, she smiled at him as he continued to hold her off of the ground. “And that’s what happens. It’s a tradition on the Surface. And by the looks of it, looks like you like this tradition already.” She smirked, causing Sans to glare at her, growling before he kissed her again. Mariah laughed, before giving in and melting into him. When he pulled away, he hugged her to himself, a content look on his face. His human smiled, hugging him back. “You know… I really love this Sans. Where does he go when Papyrus comes in the house?” she whispered, and Sans tensed up, before putting his head against hers.

“This Sans… He goes into hiding to protect the human he cares about from his brother, who would kill her on the spot if he knew. Besides, with you being the only human in the underground aside from Frisk, you’re a better candidate for the final soul needed for the barrier because you’re older. It’s better he thinks that I don’t have feelings for you than to know and use you to hurt me more than he already does.” Sans whispered back, a slight shaking accompanying the confession. Mariah frowned, but that frown turned to wide fearful eyes at the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow leading to the house. Pushing Sans away from her, Mariah rushed to the kitchen, but not before racing back and pecking Sans on his smile again. Sans sighed, collapsing on the couch and starting to flip through channels just in time for Papyrus to come storming into the house, a look that seemed almost happy on his face. Looking around, his pinpricks narrowed when they landed on Sans, who looked back at him, bracing himself for the hateful words and cruel actions to start.

“Sans! You bag of useless bones! I, The Terrible Papyrus, require your assistance. Come. Now.” He said, turning around and exiting the house without another word. Sans sighed, glaring at the door. Getting up, he looked back at Mariah, who had been watching the scene with worried eyes, but at the gentle smile she sent him, he turned around and followed his brother.

“Now what could he need help with…” Mariah whispered, tiptoeing after Sans to the nearby window and peeking out of it. What she saw made her eyes widen.

-outside-

“Pap- I mean, Boss… What’s so important that you actually needed help with something?” Sans asked, dragging his feet as he walked after his brother, who had the same happy look on his face. Papyrus looked down on his brother, glaring at his lack of enthusiasm, before he looked back up.

“I have caught another human. I didn’t want that human that you convinced me to let stay in our home to see her; might get ideas on rescuing her.” He said, and Sans’ eye sockets widened. He took a chance to look back behind them at the house to see Mariah staring out the window with wide eyes. Frowning, Sans looked back at the new human that his brother had captured, a female with short brown hair and a pair of eyes to match. She looked both intrigued and terrified of the monsters standing in front of her; probably because she was tied up and was just lying on the ground as if she had been thrown there and threatened to stay put, which she probably was. Papyrus smirked, leaning down and pulling her up by the rope, lifting her off the ground so that she was eye level with him. “I will be giving this human to Asgore tomorrow. And don’t even think about trying to convince me to keep her, too. I have already shown mercy to two humans, and if I keep that up, Undyne will have my head. Now, you are to go back to the house and pretend this did not happen. Go.” He said, and Sans rolled his eyes. Looking at the human, she looked at him with terrified brown eyes. Sans frowned, turning away from her and racing back to the house, going in and automatically grabbing Mariah and going to his room.

“Sans… You’re not really going to let him sacrifice that innocent girl, are you?” she asked, and Sans frowned.

“Sweetheart, tibia honest, as much as I would like ta help her out, Boss would kill you if I even tried to do anything. I already convinced him to keep you and Frisk in the house…” he said, and from the look on his face, it was killing him to have to turn a blind eye to this. Mariah frowned, biting her lip and laying down beside Sans, coming up with a plan.

-early the next morning-

Mariah got up, crawling out of bed and sneaking out of Sans’ room down the stairs. Putting her jacket on, she quietly slipped out of the house and over to the cellar. Opening the cellar, Mariah slipped down to the basement of the house, walking over to the jail cell; the same jail cell that she had been in when she first fell down and got caught by Papyrus. Glancing into the cell, the girl was lying in the corner, a flimsy blanket her only source of warmth in this otherwise freezing dungeon. Looking around, Mariah rolled her eyes as she noticed the keys sitting right on the hook by the door. Apparently, Papyrus had gotten smarter with his dungeon cell since the last time it was used, since the bars were closer together, but he still left an easy way to get out; the keys were on a hook right next to the door. Picking up the keys, Mariah went over and unlocked the door before walking in and going over to the girl. She crouched down, poking the girl gently, waking her up. The new girl loked up with fear in her eyes, only for that fear to lessen a tad at the sight of another human. “Hi there. So, I see you got yourself captured by Papyrus… Honestly, I applaud you for still being alive; I almost didn’t make it when I was captured. Come on, let’s get you inside the house, um…”

“Emily… My name’s Emily.” She said, and Mariah smiled at her.

“Emily. It’s nice to meet you. The name’s Mariah. But, now is not the time for talking; we have to get back into the house and I’ve got some food to make.” She said, winking at Emily before helping quickly and quietly. Once they were safely in the house, Mariah had Emily sit down on the couch, pulling the blanket off the arm and throwing it onto her before heading to the kitchen to make breakfast for Sans, Emily, and herself, since Papyrus never ate her food anyways. As she cooked, she kept watch over the outside, waiting for dawn, when the rude monster himself would wake up. As she was cooking up the eggs and sausages, though, she failed to hear someone come in until a pair of skeletal arms wrapped around her waist. Mariah froze, but relaxed when a lazy chuckle met her ears.

“You know, call me crazy, but I think olive you.” He said, and Mariah snorted, turning her head and kissing the side of his skull.

“Good morning to you too, sweetheart. And Merry Christmas Eve, as well.” She said, and Sans smiled at her, before his smile dropped when he heard a noise from the couch.

“Vertebae… Don’t tell me you did what I think you did…” he said, looking to the living room.

“I couldn’t just let her freeze, Sans. That’s cruel, even by Papyrus’ standards. Besides, Papyrus should be grateful that she’s in the hou-”

“WHY IS THIS HUMAN SLEEPING ON MY, THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS’, COUCH?! SANS! WHAT DID YOUR HUMAN DO!” Sans and Mariah sighed, and Mariah turned off the stovetop before they both walked into the living room. Papyrus was visibly seething, and Emily was now awake and cowering in front of him. Mariah glared at Papyrus, who glared back at her.

“What I did was bring that poor girl inside from the cold. Because leaving her there in the cold was cruel, even for you. You realize that once a human dies, their soul dies as well, right? If she had died last night, you wouldn’t have been able to use her soul, because you would have had to grab it automatically, and you would have been too late to swipe it before it vanished. So stop being a jerk and yelling at Sans when I did something helpful. But on a completely related note, you are not going to just sacrifice this girl to Asgore on Christmas Eve! Tomorrow is a very cheerful day, and I’ll be damned if you ruin it by being a jerk and sacrificing an innocent soul.” She said, every word bringing her closer to Papyrus until she was right in front of him, glaring up at him with harsh brown eyes. Papyrus glared back at her, snarling at her insubordination, but scoffing and looking at Sans.

“GET YOUR HUMAN OUT OF MY FACE AND OUT OF MY SIGHT. BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT KEEPING HER HERE.” He said, and turned around, going back to his room. Mariah rolled her eyes after him, before going back to the kitchen. Emily collapsed back onto the couch, shaking uncontrollably over the events that had just occurred in front of her. Asgore? Soul? Sacrifice?! She wasn’t even sure what she had gotten herself into by running into the skeleton, even if at first, she had thought that he was cute. She was starting to regret coming here, and no amount of whatever feelings she had for the tall brooding skeleton was going to change that. Sans frowned as Papyrus slammed his door, and as he turned around, his pinpricks watched Emily. Mariah looked at him, beckoning him to the kitchen with her. When he was next to her, he leaned against the counter and looked at her.

“You know, that wasn’t clavi-cool. You coulda gotten yourself killed, babe.” He said, and Mariah pouted.

“Well, he deserved to know that him being a jerk wasn’t cool. Even when I do something to help him, I’m wrong.” She said, not even looking at Sans as her expression darkened. Continuing on the cooking, she pointedly didn’t look at Sans, which only alerted the skeleton to how she was feeling. Wrapping his arms around her waist and bopping his teeth to her neck, Sans let his smile widen.

“Well, regardless, you shouldn’t have done that. But, I will give you this… You did show me something through all of that.” He said, and Mariah blinked.

“What did you find out?” she asked, and Sans smile widened further.

“I think Boss may have a soft spot for, Emily, was her name? Yeah. I think he’s found his soul companion. Kinda like what you are for me.” He said, and the human in his arms stopped what she was doing. Shifting her eyes to look at him, she searched his face for an unknown emotion.

“You think so, huh? That would be pretty rich; the Great and Terrible Papyrus’ soul companion is a human…” Sans chuckled at the sound of her voice: a combination of sarcasm, mockery, and surprise. She had been spending so much time with him that he started to rub off on her.

“Yeah, I do. And I also know that you’re going to want to test that. How about you have Papyrus do that Christmas tradition that we had some fun with this morning? If it goes well, you’ll have your answer.” He said, and Mariah leaned her head back into Sans, thinking about his proposal.

“Well… you do get to open a present on Christmas Eve… He may think he’s all big and bad, but he’s still your little brother; he has things that he wants, and I may have given him the one thing he’ll actually like. If we can get him to stand in the center of the room, then he’ll have to do it, since deep down I know he really like human traditions.” She said, and Sans nodded, before letting Mariah go to help her finish up breakfast.

-later that night-

“ALRIGHT, LET’S GET THIS OVER WITH.” Papyrus sighed in annoyance, as he sat in his arm chair in one corner of the living room. Since it was Christmas Eve, everyone got to open one present, and he was just ready for all of the joy to be done and over with. Mariah looked at him, shaking her head.

“Why are you so pessimistic? Christ is fun, and if I’m not mistaken, you actually do like human traditions, as much as you don’t like to admit it.” She said, and Papyrus stared her down, before looking off to the side. “Anyways, for your present, Papyrus, I need you to stand in the middle of the room.” Papyrus stared at her in confusion for a minute, but got up, going to the middle of the room and standing there, crossing his arms.

“WHAT NOW, HUMAN? WHY AM I JUST STANDING HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM? IS THIS SOME KIND OF HUMAN TRADITION?” he asked, and she nodded. Looking at Emily, who had just been sitting there with hot chocolate in hand and a blanket over her shoulders, she ushered her up too and got her to the middle of the room. Emily stared up at Papyrus with a mixed look of fear and curiosity. The two of them stared at each other, and Mariah went and sat down by Sans, leaning against him.

“Now that you’re both there, let me explain the tradition to you, Papyrus. See that plant that’s right over your heads?” she said, and the two of them looked above them to see the infamous red and green plant on the ceiling. Emily’s face turned bright red, while Papyrus looked at her in confusion, before turning to Mariah and Sans, a glare set on his face.

“WHAT ABOUT IT?” he asked, trying to sound tough, but the curiosity was clear in his voice.

“Well, that is what is called mistletoe. When two people are under it, they have to kiss. It’s a human tradition that has been going on for centuries. This year, my Christmas present to you is a human tradition, because I know how much you love them, despite how you pretend that you don’t.” Mariah said, smiling at him. Papyrus cocked a bonebrow but shrugged it off as he looked down at Emily, who all the while was just staring up at the little plant. Papyrus sighed, before he looked to Sans and Mariah again. Sans sent him a giant smile.

“Go ahead, bro. I’m sure that you’ll be fine. Just a kiss.” He said, and the two of them watched as Papyrus’ skull turned bright pumpkin. He looked down at Emily again, before putting both hands under her arms and lifting her up to his eye level. Her eyes widened, and Papyrus could see the terror in her eyes; the terror that he had put there. He felt his soul hurt at the sight of the look she was giving him, but he couldn’t let that kind of emotion out, even when nobody from the outside was there with them. With a bright orange skull, Papyrus squeezed his eye sockets shut and bumped his jagged smile against Emily’s lips. The girl hung there, frozen by her shock and surprise, but as Sans and Mariah watched, her eyes closed and she gave in, pushing back against his permanent scowl. She smiled and Papyrus’ soul started to glow a faint orange. Soon, the kiss ended and Papyrus put her down, rushing out of the room before anyone could say anything to him. Sans and Mariah looked at each other, before looking at the hurt and lost look on Emily’s face. Frowning, Mariah got up and tapped Emily’s shoulder.

“He’s upstairs in his room. It’s the one with the shield on the door.” She said, and Emily smiled at her, before she rushed off in the direction of Papyrus’ bedroom. Sans got up and stood next to Mariah.

“Well, I was right. He does like her. But now I think his soul is gonna need some serious work.” He said, not even trying to put a pun into the conversation. He looked up in the direction of his little brother’s room and just stared at the door. Mariah followed his gaze, a smile coming to her face as she fell against his shoulder lightly.

“It does. And she’ll do the same thing I did for your soul when you first met me. She’ll be there for him, talk to him, take all the abuse that he can dish out to keep himself from falling harder than he already has appeared to. He’ll try and block her out on account of he is a monster and she is a human with a soul that has the power to break the barrier and set everyone free; that he has a duty to the Royal Guards but at the same time, he wants to protect her. He’ll go through all of the things that you did with me, except instead of protecting her from himself, he’ll be protecting her from Undyne and Asgore. And who knows; maybe Alphys will think of a way to break the barrier without using human souls to do it. All we have to do now is sit back and wait for him to start changing into the Papyrus that you knew before he got the idea of the Royal Guard in his head.” She said, and Sans looked at her, wrapping an arm around her waist and sighing before collapsing on the couch with her.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe having somebody in his life will make him less bonely. Then he’ll leave me alone about my reasons for wanting to keep you here and safe from harm, while Frisk is allowed to go all over the Underground doing whatever it is that the kid does. But for now… Merry almost Christmas, vertabae.” Sans said, handing over a box wrapped in red and purple. Mariah smiled, leaning over and pecking the side of his smile before starting to unwrap the present.

-meanwhile, in Papyrus’ room-

Emily knocked on the door, gaining a ‘go away Sans’ from the skeleton that was just beyond the door. Turning the knob and pushing the door, she found out that it was unlocked. Slipping inside, she shut the door behind her and looked around the room. Her eyes fell on a bat mobile bed with a huge red lump in the covers and giggled. Instantly, the lump shot up and the blankets were thrown off to reveal Papyrus, whose skull turned a dark orange at the sound. “W-WHAT DO YOU WANT, HUMAN? I’M TRYING TO GET OVER THE SHOCK OF MY BEHAVIOR BY MYSELF.” He said, and she walked over to his bed, sitting down on the side of it gently.

“You know, it was pretty shocking for me, too. I thought that you absolutely hated me…” You said you wanted to sacrifice my soul to, Asgore, was it? Do… Do you still feel like that?” she asked, avoiding eye contact with him by looking at the floor of his room. Papyrus huffed out a sigh and moved to sit on the other side of his bed.

“HUMAN, I DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL ANYMORE. I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD, BECAUSE YOUR SOUL WOULD HELP EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE AND BACK TO THE SURFACE, BUT I ALSO FEEL LIKE I SHOULDN’T BECAUSE NOW I FINALLY UNDERSTAND WHY MY BROTHER INSISTS ON KEEPING MARIAH IN THE HOUSE WITH US. SHE MAKES HIM HAPPY AND MAKES HIM FEEL BETTER AFTER DEALING WITH OUR WORLD EACH AND EVERY DAY.” He said, looking at his Royal Guard poster on his wall. “I WANTED TO BE THE ONE TO FREE THE MONSTERS SO BAD, BUT HOW CAN I DO THAT NOW WHEN I SEEM TO FINALLY HAVE ACQUIRED WHAT MY BROTHER AND FATHER HAVE?” Emily stayed silent and listened, and when he was finished, she turned around and crawling over to him, hugging him. Papyrus flinched, but then he relaxed in her embrace.

“You know, you don’t have to save everyone by sacrificing someone else. You could easily do that by making living down here more tolerable for everyone. What even happened?” Emily asked, and Papyrus’ pinpricks shifted to her for a second.

“WHAT HAPPENED WAS HUMANS TRAPPED ALL MONSTERS DOWN HERE. AND IT’S BEEN SO LONG THAT NOW MONSTERS ARE STARTING TO TURN ON EACH OTHER AND IT’S BECOME A LIVING HELL LIVING DOWN HERE IN THE UNDERGROUND. NOW, THERE’S ONLY COLD WHERE THE AFFECTION FOR HUMANS USED TO BE IN THE HEARTS OF MONSTERS. WE ALL JUST WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE, BUT SO FAR THE ONLY WAY TO DO THAT IS BY SACRIFICING SEVEN HUMAN SOULS, AND WE HAVE SIX. I TRIED TO SACRIFICE FRISK, BUT SHE SLIPPED THROUGH MY FINGERS, THEN MARIAH, WHICH DIDN’T HAPPEN BECAUSE SANS FELL IN LOVE WITH HER, AND NOW YOU. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN OFFERED UP ON A SILVER PLATTER BY NOW, BUT NOW IT SEEMS I HAVE FALLEN FOR YOU. IT SEEMS SOUL MATES ARE REAL…” he said, his loud voice gradually being reduced to a whisper. Emily raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Soul mates?” she asked, and Papyrus nodded, breaking her hold on him and looking at her.

“YES. SOUL MATES ARE TWO BEINGS WHO HAVE COMPATIBLE SOULS. THEY ARE VERY HARD TO FIND, AND ONCE THEY ARE FOUND, THEY HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING. SANS AND MARIAH ARE A PERFECT EXAMPLE. BEFORE HER, I WAS ABLE TO CONTROL HIM WITHOUT SO MUCH AS LIFTING A FINGER; HE WAS EASILY INTIMIDATED AND MANIPULATED BECAUSE OF HIS LOW HP. AS SOON AS HE SAW HER, HOWEVER, HE CHANGED; CHALLENGING ME OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE, PROTECTING HER FROM EVERYTHING THAT TRIED TO HURT HER, GAINING A BACKBONE. THE IMAGE THAT I HAD WORKED SO HARD TO MAINTAIN IN FRONT OF ALL THE OTHER MONSTERS WAS SHATERED BY A HUMAN THAT SHOULND’T HAVE EVEN COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE. NOW THAT YOU’RE HERE, I BELIEVE THAT I, THE TERRIBLE PAPYRUS, AM GOING TO BE GOING THROUGH THE SAME TRANSFORMATION THAT MY OLDER BROTHER DID.” He explained, and Emily just listened to him. Every word that he verbally let go, every emotion that she didn’t really hide well. Emily just listened until he was done. When he finished explaining, she blinked, looking at him before laying down on his bed, patting the pillow next to her. After he laid down beside her, they both stared up at the ceiling.

“Well, if you are going to change, I’m glad that I’ll be able to help you. Maybe then you can be with your brother the way I have a feeling you want to be. You don’t rally like having to be mean to him, do you?” she asked, shifting her eyes to him to see orange tears running down his face as he shook his head. “I thought so. You looked like your heart was hurting every time you yelled at him or at Mariah. The look on your face was pure pain. I understand wanting to protect him but yelling and being mean all the time is not the way to do that. But now you have me to help you with a better way to both protect Sans from harm and protect your relationship with your brother so that it doesn’t become damaged beyond repair. Maybe… You could start by going out there and seeing if they’re okay…” she said, and Papyrus nodded, slowly getting up and going to the door. He stopped, his hand on the doorknob. “Go ahead… I’m right behind you.” After she said those words, he opened the door, walking back down the stairs and looking over the couch.

“SANS?” he asked, but when he saw that his brother had fallen asleep on the couch with Mariah, he blinked. Rolling his eyes in irritation, he went and got a blanket from his chair and put it over the two of them, before walking back up the stairs to the little room at the center to see if Frisk was in the room that they had put aside for the child for whenever she was visiting; she was. Frisk was asleep, covering with so many blankets that she was completely encompassed by them. Papyrus shut the door quietly and went back to his own room. He walked back to his bed and got back in, closing his sockets without another word. Emily, all the while, gave him an expectant look. “SANS AND MARIAH ARE ASLEEP ON THE COUCH AND FRISK IS ASLEEP IN HER ROOM.” Was all he said, before he fell silent again. Emily shrugged, smiling as she laid down next to me. She watched as he visibly relaxed, falling asleep in an instant and turning over, grabbing her and cuddling her close in his sleep. Emily blinked, but smiled and closed her eyes, following Papyrus into dreamland for the night. Tomorrow would be Christmas and they would have presents to open, memories to make and conflicts to tackle, but for now, she would just accept not being sacrificed.

“Merry Christmas, Papyrus…” she whispered, focusing on relaxing.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS, HU- EMILY…” Papyrus mumbled back, before the only sounds that could be heard was light snoring. Emily’s eyes closed, grateful for the other adult human in the house for not letting things lead to her death and leading her instead to someone that would be there to protect her until he couldn’t anymore. Someone who would be happy to be loved and would love her in return. Emily smiled, her breathing slowing down as she finally fell asleep.


	6. New Relationship for Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hoshina makes a new friend, then proceeds to unintentionally play matchmaker

**Hoshina**

The snow came down hard as we continued walking. Shippo was in my arms, trying to catch the snow on his tongue as I laughed at his silliness, before a shiver ran through me. “Maybe we should stop for the night. It is Christmas Eve, after all.” Kagome said, as I let out a sneeze. InuYasha looked at me, worry flashing through his eyes.

“That’s fine. But I at least want to make it to a village first.” He said, and I looked at him. Shippo, who I assumed was looking up at me, jumped out of my arms and onto Miroku’s shoulder as I let out another sneeze. InuYasha skipped a beat in his walking, and the next thing I knew, I was being scooped up into his arms. “Nova, it’s not gonna do us any good if you sick. Get some sleep. I’ll wake you up when we get there.” He said, and I could feel my eyes drooping as I looked at him. Cuddling up to him, I sighed as I resigned myself to sleep.

**InuYasha**

I smiled as Hoshina fell asleep. “Are you really going to wake her when we get to the next village?” Miroku asked, Sango, Shippo and Kirara watching me for my answer as well. Shaking my head no, I looked down at her.

“No. If she doesn’t get some sleep, she really will get sick. So, as long as we make it to a village soon and get her someplace warm, she’ll be fine.” I said. I heard Kagome pout and rolled my eyes, as we came upon the next village. Just as Miroku was going to try and go schmooze the headman of the village, I walked ahead of him and right up to the headman himself. “Hello, sir. We were just passing through, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind letting us stay the night? My uh… My wife is in danger of getting sick if we don’t get her someplace warm.” I explained, my face warming up at the word. I could feel the stares of every single one of the group members, one of which was an icy one. The headman looked at me, then looked at Hoshina, who was starting to run a slight fever, before he smiled at me and nodded.

“Sure, young man. We have a few spare rooms in our home for you and your friends. Please follow me.” He said. I smiled, nodding and following him. I didn’t even notice when everyone else just started following after me, but I heard the whispers.

 _“Did he just call Hoshi his wife?! I mean it would make sense, but wow!”_ Sango.

 _“He did. And he even managed to get us a place to stay, without lying to the headman. You should take notes, Miroku.”_ Shippo.

 _“Shippo, I assure you, that was just a con as well. Sure, Hoshina is sick, but the headman probably wouldn’t have given us the time of day if InuYasha didn’t call her his wife.”_ Miroku.

With every whisper I heard, my face got hotter and hotter. I felt like my face is going to explode, but that all changed when Hoshi’s breathing got a little bit ragged. When the headman showed us the rooms, I made that the gang was all squared away in the other two rooms before moving over to the third one that they had provided. Lying Hoshi down on the mat, I went to go get a wet cloth for her forehead, smiling softly at her as I left the room.

**Emily**

I watched the headman bring a group of travelers into his home, a half dog demon man carrying what looked like another half demon in his arm leading the way. _‘I wonder what that’s about…’_ I thought, before shrugging and going back to what I was doing.

-Christmas Day-

**Hoshina**

My eyes opened to the sight of InuYasha’s sleeping face, causing me to smile. I slowly got out of his grasp, making my way to the door. Opening it, I sighed in exhaustion at the sight of all of our friends right outside the door. Sango was the first to recover from being caught. “Hoshi! How are you feeling? Are you okay now?” she asked, and I smiled.

“Yeah, I’m okay… Do I even want to know how Miroku managed to convince the poor man who owns this house to let us stay?” I asked, and Miroku and Sango looked at each other.

“Actually, it wasn’t me who got us these rooms. It was InuYasha.” My eyes widened at what Shippo said, and I looked back at said half demon man, who was still sleeping soundly. Smiling at him gently, I stepped out of the room and shut it quietly behind me. Shippo jumped up onto my shoulder, as I continued walking to get outside. “He called you his wife, Hoshi. He said that you were going to get sick and asked if we could stay the night here.” He continued, which made me stop.

“He… He called me his wife?” I asked, my cheeks heating up at the explanation and the confirmation of Shippo’s nodding head. “That softie. I sure do love him. Guess I better go try to find something for him for Christmas. I’ll ask him about the wife thing later. Wanna help, Shippo?” I asked, getting another enthusiastic nod as I started walking around the village. Eventually, we came across a hut that had a girl sitting in front of it. She had a bunch of tiny charms in front of her, and she was working on another one. I walked up to her, tilting my head curiously at what she was doing. It took her a minute to realize that someone was watching her, and she looked up at me, her hands completely freezing her actions.

“May I help you?” she asked, smiling while moving her hands down and putting the charm she was making on her lap. I blinked, before my face heated up at the fact that I had been staring.

“Oh! S-Sorry… I just saw your charms and thought that one would be the perfect present for my uh… my husband. He has a sword and is fighting all the time, so I just thought that maybe if I could give him a charm that represents me, that maybe even when I’m not with him, he’ll know that I’m with him and protecting him.” I said, and I could feel my face heating up as Shippo’s gaze seemed like a thousand suns beating down on me. The girl smiled, looking down at the charms that she had, laying them out in front of us so that I could see them. I smiled at the girl, before my gaze went to the beautiful charms that were in front of me. “These are absolutely beautiful. I really like this star one… I think I’ll go with that one. My name’s Hoshina, by the way. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. My little companion here is Shippo.” I said, and the girl smiled at me. She picked up the star charm, examining that before handing it to me.

“Hi! My name’s Emily. Oh! No, put the purse away. I want you to have it. I’m sure your husband will really love this charm, since it’s coming from you.” She smiled, and I smiled at her as I took the charm.

“Aw, you really don’t have to… But I know that he really would love this… Especially after he got us a place to stay just to keep me from getting sick…” I said, and Emily’s face lit up in recognition.

“I thought I recognized you! You were the half demon that the other half demon was carrying last night! I’m glad to see that you’re okay. He was really worried about you.” She smiled, and I felt my face light up in a blushing mess. I put the charm in my sleeve, before getting up with Shippo on my shoulder. Emily got up with us and, after she put the rest of her charms back in her hut, walked with us back to the headman’s house. My eyes widened at the sound of yelling but went back to normal as soon as we entered the house and I could distinguish who was yelling. Sango was yelling at Miroku about being a lech, Miroku was trying to get a word in, InuYasha was yelling at everyone about where I was, and Kagome was yelling at him to shut up, all before a thunderous ‘SIT’ sounded throughout the house. Emily looked extremely freaked out and Shippo jumped to her shoulder when I took off running, trying to find out where my dork of a man was. Finally I found him, facedown in the floor from the Sit command, growls being emitted from him cursing Kagome’s name and worried mutters of questioning where I was. Walking over to him, I sat down next to him and rubbed his back. Instantly he shot up and stared at me, looking me up and down to make sure I was okay.

“Hoshina! Where the hell did you go?! I woke up and you were just gone, and nobody knew where you went!” he fussed, causing me to smile and lean over, kissing his nose to make him stop.

“Calm down, I’m right here. How’s your head? Kagome’s command really got you this time.” I said, moving his hair to see a giant bump forming on his head. Gently I led him to laying his head on my lap, which he did with no resistance whatsoever.

“You know… We need to continue our search for Naraku… The longer we wait, the stronger he gets. I really don’t want him to get so strong that I can’t beat him. I want to be able to protect you…” he said, and I could tell from his eyes that he was still exhausted. Smiling down at him, I started to run my fingers through his hair.

“Naraku isn’t going to be any stronger tomorrow than he is today. We know he’s in this area, because his scent is all over the place. Celebrating Christmas isn’t going to change anything, love. Besides… if we were to leave right now, I wouldn’t be able to give you the present I just got you from my new friend.” I said, biting back a laugh at the eye he cocked open at the word present.

“Hm? You got me something? Nova, you didn’t have to do that… I didn’t get you anything.” He said and I shrugged, the smile on my face never wavering as I got the charm out of my sleeve and dangled it above his head. He cocked his head curiously and reached up to grab it. Sitting up, he looked at the star charm as a smile slowly came to his face. “Hey, this is you.” He said, looking at me with a tiny smile. I felt my face heat up again, nodding at him.

“Yeah! I thought that maybe we could hook it on Tessaiga’s sheath, so that you’d always have a piece of me with you, even if I’m not actually there. Not to say that I’m planning on leaving you anytime soon, but just in case something happens and you have to fight without me.” I explained, and InuYasha’s smile softened as he got up and picked up his sword. Finding a place, he hooked the charm onto his sheath and moved it back to admire it. “Do you like it?”

“It’s perfect, sweetheart. Thanks.” He said, plopping himself back down next to me. I smiled, leaning into him as we both admired the charm.

“Oh, so I heard that you called me your wife last night to get the rooms that we stayed in…” I said, leaning my head up to look at him. His eyes met mine and his face was as red as his robe.

“Oh, you heard about that… I bet it was Shippo… I’ll kill him…” he mumbled, and I giggled, pushing myself up and kissing his cheek.

“Oh, leave him alone. Besides, when I got this charm from my new friend, I called you my husband. So, now we’re even.” I said, and his face whipped towards mine so fast that we bumped noses. “By the way… you do know that you have to go see your brother today, right? It’s Christmas, and it doesn’t matter if the two of you hate each other, today you will be nice. Besides, I have a present for Rin that I’ve been holding onto for a while now. I’m sure she would like to have it.” I said, and InuYasha’s mood went from happy to annoyed in one second flat.

“Do I really have to go find that jackass? He’s just going to be rude to you, which is going to make me want to kill him.” He, but stopped at the sight of my glare.

“Yes, you do. End of story. Actually, let me go tell the gang and we can go.” I said, getting up before InuYasha was able to grab me. Walking to the door I opened it, only to have Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Emily fall through the door. Sighing, I looked down at all of them. “Geez… Oh well. Guess that saves me from having to tell everybody that InuYasha and I are going to find Sesshoumaru. We’ll be back later.” I said, before grabbing InuYasha’s hand and dragging him out of the room, unaware of the presence that followed us.

**Emily**

“Who’s Sesshoumaru?” I asked, as soon as the two of them had turned the corner. Sango and Miroku looked at each other, before looking at me.

“He’s InuYasha’s older brother. He’s a full demon, and InuYasha isn’t exactly his favorite person.  
“ Sango said, Miroku nodding in agreement. I blinked, curious at the thought of there being a being like InuYasha but older. Looking after the two, I made up my mind. I got up, sneaking after the two as quietly as I could. Miroku and Sango watched me go, knowing smiled on both of their faces. Creeping slowly, I followed them all the way to where they stopped. There was a huge two headed dragon, an imp and a human girl that was in the immediate sights. After a minute or two, a new person came into view; a dog demon with the most handsome features. Hiding behind a tree, I watched the scene play out before me.

**InuYasha**

We walked for what felt like forever, before we came upon Sesshoumaru’s two headed dragon, imp and human traveling companions. Upon us showing up Jaken, the dumb imp, glared at us while Rin, the little girl, smiled widely and jumped off the dragon’s back. “Hoshi!” she called, running over to the two of us. Hoshina leaned down on her knees and hugged Rin tightly.

“Hey girlie! How’ve you been? I have something with your name on it. Merry Christmas, Rin.” She said, giving the little doll that she had been carrying around since the last town we were in to Rin. Rin’s eyes lit up in absolute wonder as she was handed the doll, her face lighting up once she had it in her arms. Turning her smiling face to us again, she hugged Hoshi before turning and hugging my legs as well.

“Oh, thank you! It’s wonderful!” she said, hugging the doll to herself, just as Sesshoumaru came out of nowhere. “Look, Lord Sesshoumaru! Look what Lady Hoshina and Lord InuYasha gave me!” she said. Sesshoumaru’s eyes flickered downwards towards her, and for a second I saw softness run through his features. He looked back up at us before he leaned down and picked Rin up, holding her protectively.

“Someone is here. A human. And they are not from your little group of friends.” He said, and Hoshi and I followed his eyes to the tree that he was looking at. As soon as I caught the scent as well, I pushed Hoshi behind me, drawing Tessaiga and pointing it at the tree. Hoshi sniffed the air, and before I had a chance to grab her, she was running for the tree.

**Hoshina**

As soon as I caught the scent in the air, I smiled. Running over to the tree, I peeked behind it to see Emily there, her face bright red and terrified. Taking her hand, I led her out from behind the tree, instantly noting the fact that she was looking at Sesshoumaru. Walking her over to the rest of the group that was present, I introduced her to the boys, Rin and Ah-Un. “Guys, this is Emily. InuYasha, this is the friend that I was telling you about.” I said, looking at them before stopping on Sesshoumaru’s face. He was staring right into Emily’s eyes, and she was doing the same. Blinking, I backed away from Emily and towards InuYasha. “Would you look at that…”

“Nova, what’s going on…” InuYasha asked, looking over at the weird staring contest going on between the two of them.

**Sesshoumaru**

I continued to stare at the human girl, a strange feeling arising the longer I did. _‘Is this how father saw humans?’_ I thought to myself. I refused to move, fearing that I would do something to compromise my façade. While I wondered how to move this situation on to something less awkward, Rin ran over to her.

“Hello miss! Are you friends with Lady Hoshina and Lord InuYasha?” she asked and I watched as she bent down and nodded at Rin, starting to talk to her. They seemed to talk for what felt like forever before I was brought out of my thoughts by a tug on my kimono sleeve. Looking down, I saw Rin looking up at me with a smile. “Lord Sesshoumaru! I really like Lady Emily! She’s really nice!” she said, and she gave me one of her brightest smiles. I decided that I wanted to keep that smile on her face. Shifting my eyes back to Emily, I slowly walked up to her and once I was in front of her, I stopped. The human, Emily, looked up at me with uncertainty written all over her face.

“Will you accompany me as well? Rin seems to like you, and I will need someone to take care of her for the time moving forward.” I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible about the whole thing. She stared up at me for what felt like eternity, just blinking at me. _‘What is this feeling… I don’t like it.’_ I thought, before the sound of her voice brought my attention back to her.

“Uh… Um… Sure, I guess…” she said, and I felt the strangest feeling wash over me; relief and happiness. However, I made sure not to show it on my face. When I looked up to find InuYasha the other half demon he had decided was going to be his mate, they were walking away.

_‘They either did this on purpose, or this was too fortunate a coincidence. Either way, I am grateful that I met Emily.’_

**InuYasha**

“Babe, let’s go. Seems like they’ve got this now.” Hoshina whispered while taking my hand and leading me away from the group. She waved goodbye to Rin as we left, smiling until we were out of eyeshot before looking at me. I met her gaze, a small smile that I only gave to her on my face. “Pretty cool, right? Looks like Sesshoumaru has the same tastes that your father did. Not saying that I’m not happy that your father fell for a human… After all, without your mother being in your father’s life, I wouldn’t have you now.” She said, whispering the last part. Smiling down at her, I squeezed her hand as we walked.

“I’m pretty grateful for my parents, too. I wouldn’t have been able to be here with you now…” I said, looking down at her. I looked back up and, taking a huge breath, I swallowed my pride and tried my best to make my next words as nonchalant as possible. “Say, Hoshina. Maybe we should make those titles real. You know, the wife and husband ones.” I said, trying my best to look forward so that I didn’t have to see her reaction if it was bad. All I got was comforting pressure around my hand.

“I would love that, InuYasha. And hey, maybe next time we see Sesshoumaru and Emily, they’ll be Lord and Lady, and not just because Rin calls them that.” She said. I smiled up at the stars, not saying another word as we continued our walk back to our friends, excited to start our journey again, but also to make things official. “Merry Christmas, Hoshina…”


End file.
